The manner in which items are displayed for retail sale can have a dramatic impact on the sales volume of the items. An attractive display providing convenient inspection of and access to a merchant's wares will measurably increase sales volume, while a poor display which fails to attract the attention of customers or fails to show the product to best advantage will have a detrimental effect on sales figures for the items. It is also in the merchant's interest to efficiently display the items, i.e., to use the least space of the limited space available to display the items to potential customers. Display space in a store is a limited and valuable resource which must be put to use efficiently and effectively to maximize and maintain a high level of sales.
Different items have different requirements for achieving efficient and effective display in a retail environment. Often the packaging of the items is designed to attract the attention of customers and induce a purchase, and an efficient and effective display means is one that incorporates the items' packaging as well as the other characteristics, such as shape, size and bulk, to display the maximum number of items to best advantage.
A particularly challenging design problem is presented by the display of various items having relatively flat packaging and a large surface area upon which an illustration of the product is displayed. Hobbyist's needle craft kits provide one example of such products, wherein the yarns and substrate of the kit are packaged in a flat transparent bag which has a cardboard insert with a color illustration of the completed needle craft kit. The illustration is intended to catch the attention of the customers and induce purchases, but to effectively display a multiplicity of different kits, each kit having a different illustration and each illustration being clearly visible normally requires a relatively large display area. Thus, there is a need for a means of displaying such items which conserves display space while showing off a maximum number of different items to best advantage.